It's a term I hear often, especially in the wake of the death of
Trayvon Martin. Whites implore Blacks to reflect on the crime they
inflict on one another. The implication being that Trayvon's death
deserves neither sympathy nor scrutiny...it's a Black problem. Some
Blacks, as well are all too willing to shoulder responsibility for
lawlessness because "we kill one another".

Contrary
to the chatter, the problem isn't that George Zimmerman is a race
other than Black, the problem is that those empowered with the duty to
see that justice is carried out, failed to do their job.
The problem is that they treated the victim with absolute disregard.
They made no effort to confirm the shooter's story or seek witnesses,
they simply took Zimmerman's statements as fact and then dumped
Trayvon's body in the morgue without making a single effort to identify
him. If you're the parent waiting for your son to return from a
convenience store, have you no right to expect at least that much? As a
matter of race, do you think that would have been their response if
Trayvon had been a young white boy? If the perpetrator had been Black,
do you think he would have simply gone home? Those are the issues.

I
don't dispute that Blacks kill other Blacks, particularly as a result
of gang activity. But so do Latinos, yet there is no "Latino-on-Latino"
crime. Whites certainly commit their share of crime as well. In
fact, the vast majority of serial murders are committed by white men,
who prey on other whites. The shooting at Columbine, the gunman in
Norway was a white man who killed 92 white people. From the "Wild
West" to vigilante lynching, to the act of war; indeed Hitler was white
and the vast majority of his 11 million victims were white; Jack the
Ripper, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy...all white men who murdered white
people, yet these misdeeds are not relegated to be "white-on-white"
crime.

That Blacks are simply unredemptive criminals is
a stereotype that has been perpetuated by the media, law enforcement
and revisionist history. I lived most of my life in Chicago, a city
with high gang and crime activity, but I've never personally known a
crime victim, let alone anyone who was murdered. I'm not certain I can
distinguish a gunshot from a firecracker. I raised my two girls
there...all of their friends are alive and well. But I do vividly
recall that the police department was once cited for exposing the
identity of African Americans who had been arrested to television
cameras and print media while they guarded the identity of white
individuals, even if it meant putting a police jacket over their faces.
Sadly, many of our leaders also help to perpetuate misconceptions and
stereotypes about Blacks.

"If you live in a major city, you've probably heard about the newest threat to your life and limb, and your family: carjacking.

"It's the hip-hop thing to do among the urban youth who play unsuspecting whites like pianos.
The youth simply walk up to a car they like, pull a gun, tell the
family to get out, steal their jewelry and wallets, and take the car to
wreck. Such actions have ballooned in recent months."

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I
use the information from this outdated resource (1992) because in a
recent interview, Ron Paul admitted having made the statements and
suggested that "it is still true today."

The FBI does not keep separate statistics for
carjacking. I'm not certain if such a crime would be considered
robbery, larceny-theft or motor vehicle theft, so let's look at all
three. Ron Paul specifically mentions that "they pull a gun", so let's
look at arrests due to Weapons charges too.

Clearly,
the numbers simply do not support Ron Paul's statements or what the
vast majority of Americans believe. Ron Paul suggests that these
numbers are out of proportion to the Black population. It can also be
said that the prison population is out of proportion to the racial
breakdown of arrests. It is common knowledge that the majority of
those imprisoned are there for non-violent drug charges.... and they are
Black. But even that statistic betrays what the public has been led to
believe.

In 2010 there were 485,043 Drug arrests;
361,520 or 74.5% were white, while 117,693 or 24.3% were of Blacks.
For those who make the asinine argument that the crime statistics are
disproportionate because Blacks are only 13% of the population, it is
important to note that Whites are not 74% of the population either. The
real question ought to be why color-coded statistics are recorded in
the first place.

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How do we explain the disparity in how
society views the acts of one race versus another? Are there degrees
of death? Do you ever read about such extreme police activity waged
against whites? Look again at the statistics. Why doesn't the prison
population reflect the arrests? Why are so many Black men killed at the
hands of law enforcement because an officer "thinks" he sees a
handgun? Whites own the vast majority of handguns, yet we seldom hear
of these violent encounters with the police.

From
"Birth of a Nation" to cartoons like "Heckle and Jeckle" and news
journalism, the media plays a major role in how we perceive things.
Case in point, the media was quick to point out that George Zimmerman is
not a white man, but according to his parents is Hispanic. But it was
the media who had said he was white in the first place.

A
major news outlet conducted a poll in an effort to determine whether
Latinos or Whites had a lower opinion of Blacks. Not only does such a
poll incite resentment, but displays mindless and institutional racism.
The results would cause the "professional" white anchor to ask his
white cohost, "Aren't you surprised to find that Hispanics think less of
Blacks than Whites?" This is responsible journalism? To inquire about
racial profiling or the relationship with law enforcement might have
been appropriate, but why poll at all? What everyone is missing is the
fact that the race of George Zimmerman is not the issue...Trayvon
Martin's race is.

A reader, a writer, a traveler. Always striving to do the best I can to be the best I can. I love all things artistic"art, dance, music, creative writing served best with good wine. I have no particular writing niche"I write about what I think (more...)